BALLISTIC ELECTRON-EMISSION MICROSCOPY OF LATERALLY PATTERNED MICROSTRUCTURES

Ballistic electron emission microscopy (BEEM) has been used to investigate and image microfabricated Au/SiGe features. Electron beam lithography and dry etching were used to construct arrays of holes in a SiO2 layer and etched indentations in SiGe. The electronic transport properties of the fabricated structure and adjacent unpatterned region were then characterized and imaged with BEEM. These studies demonstrate that BEEM is capable of resolving transport variation with 1-2 nm spatial resolution and can be used to study the microscopic effects of reactive ion etching. The types of imaging contrast and subsurface electron transport information obtainable from BEEM cannot be obtained by other scanned beam or scanned probe techniques.